US vs Japan in a battle for cultural dominance

Newcomb, A. (2008, December 15). Japan cracking us pop culture hegemony. The Christian Science Monitor.
This article talks about the new trend of popular culture being shaped by counties other than the United States. It talks about the transformation of Japan from economic Juggernaut, challenging the US and other countries for superiority in diverse markets like automobiles, supercomputers and microchips, to the county now setting the trend for what is "cool." According to the article, Japan has the most Michelin-starred restaurants in the world, with eight of those restaurants earning the top award of 3-stars (there are only 81 3-star restaurants in the whole world). The article also looks at Japans involvement in literary popular culture, including the increase of mangas popularity as an art form and literary style all over the world.
The article is important for the class because it shows us something we haven't really talked about yet and that's the power of other cultures to exert a cultural hegemony on America. We have had a lot of discussion about the cultural power exerted by American LIS and how that affects the world as a whole, but we haven't taken into account the influence that other countries have on us.
Another thing it shows us is that America is not the only hegemony on the block looking to broker influence in the foreign field. This is just an example of popular culture, but imagine what China and the EU are doing to exert their world view on countries in Europe and Asia. And look at the power that the USSR used to have in exerting it's cultural hegemony in the region before it's fall. I feel that we keep forgetting that we are not the only show in town, and this article does us a service to examine the plurality of the hegemony market.
Lastly, I would like to leave it with a quote from the article. It's an observation by Bruce Rutledge about the difference between American and Japanese culture. "I always feel like US culture bashes down doors, while Japanese culture seeps in under the door." I don't think it could have been said any better than that.